Courtesy of Judith Gregg Librarian Catherine Arbogast heads out with a personalized book delivery from the Los Altos main library.

Love of learning and curiosity about the world sometimes grow only more urgent as a person spends more and more time at home, limited by age, health condition, or both. Librarians head out from the Los Altos main l...

Already known as an innovator in the tech field, Google Inc. is now moving in on the art world.

The Mountain View-based company July 11 launched the “Paint the Town” contest, a “moving art experiment” that invites California residents over the age of 13 to submit physical or digital artwork that would decorate the door...

Traci Newell/Town Crier The six-week, tuition-free Stretch to Kindergarten program, hosted at Bullis Charter School, serves children who have not attended preschool. A teacher leads children in singing about the parts of a butterfly, above.

courtesy of Rishi Bommannan Rishi Bommannan cycled from Bates College in Maine to his home in Los Altos Hills, taking several selfies along the way. He also raised nearly $13,000 for the Livestrong Foundation, which supports cancer patients.

The Town Crier’s recent article on coyotes venturing down from the foothills in search of sustenance referenced the organization Project Coyote (“Recent coyote attacks keep residents on edge,” July 1). Do not waste your time contac...

Photos by Alicia Castro/Town Crier Local residents participate in an exercise class at the Grant Park Senior Center, above. Betsy Reeves, below left with Gail Enenstein, lobbied for senior programming in south Los Altos.

Grace Wilson Franks, our beloved mother and grandmother, left us peacefully on July 16, 2015 just a few weeks short of her 92nd birthday. She was born to Ross and Florence (Cruzan) Wilson in rural Tulare, California on Septem...

Most of us have a place inside our hearts and minds that occasionally causes us trouble. For some, it is sadness, depression or despair. For others, it may be fear, anger, resentment or myriad other emotional “dark places” that at times seem to hij...

Southgate Partners LLC submitted plans for a three-story, 17,156-square-foot office building at 467 First St. If approved, the structure would be built on the corner of First Street and San Antonio Road, former site of a Chevron gas station.

A development proposal for the construction of a downtown office building is making its way through the city’s approval process.

According to Los Altos Senior Planner Zach Dahl, Southgate Partners LLC submitted plans earlier this year for approval of a three-story, 17,156-square-foot office building at 467 First St. The project as proposed would include 16 surface-lot parking spaces and 29 parking spaces on one level of underground parking.

The structure would be built on land that includes the lot at the corner of First Street and San Antonio Road, former site of a Chevron gas station, in addition to parcels that house the Burger Town restaurant and The Barking Lot, a pet grooming and boarding service. The site also contains an alley owned by the city that would be sold to the applicant as a condition of final approval, Dahl said.

He noted that the development – if approved – could be a beneficial addition to the downtown triangle.

“It’s nice to see a development for a site that has been largely vacant,” said Dahl, referring to the empty corner lot. “Office use definitely provides more feet on the street for businesses in the downtown core.”

The project has already been through an initial study session by the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission and review by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission in September, according to Dahl.

The project’s next step is to undergo the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process. Dahl noted that previous owner Chevron conducted remedial cleanup work on the site in 2010 – the result of old underground gasoline tanks that contaminated water.

“That’s really what kept the site from being developed sooner,” he said.

Dahl added that he doesn’t foresee “too many issues” that can’t be mitigated during the environmental review. The Planning and Transportation Commission is slated to review the project again after the CEQA process – possibly in November – for a recommendation of approval before it heads to the Los Altos City Council.

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